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It's (almost) 
 
Our
 
Birthday!
 
Next month is a big month around these parts! 🎉
 
In August, Liberated Development turns 3! 
(And I turn 20 + 20 + something else something! 😉 lol)
 
As an early happy birthday, I just received a bit of news that I’m excited to share with you just below. I also have a few resources and updates, and a spotlight share that also doubles as a way to help me celebrate in August! 
Thanks for being a part of this journey with me!
 You are appreciated!
 
And if there are things you’re interested in seeing (or want to share) here, please continue to let me know. I will keep being intentional about making this worth the inbox space it takes!💥 As always, short and sweet… take a few minutes to check it out. 
in pursuit of liberation,
Danielle
PS:😎Summer is moving fast; I hope you’re able to slow down a tad to enjoy it. 
 

LD Update
 
🗞️Hot of the press!🗞️ 
 
LD is a recipient of a Comcast RISE program award!🏆 
 
The mission of Comcast RISE is to create long-term sustainable impact for small businesses owned by people of color and women, by providing supports in the areas of Monetary Grants, Consulting, Media, Creative Production or Technology. 
 
July 2022 Recipients were just announced Monday and Liberated Development was in that number! 🎉
 
Stay tuned to hear more about how we'll be using this small business award from Comcast RISE to directly support the development of emerging and established BIPOC leaders within the LD community! We can't wait!
 
 
Note: If you are (or know) a small BIPOC and/or women-owned business, the next round of RISE applications opens this fall. Click below to learn more. 
COMCAST RISE (+ Yay Us!)
Shining a Light
 
Sista Afya (SA) was founded in response to the mental health inequity impacting the Black women in my hometown of Chicago. SA disrupts mental health inequity by providing affordable and culturally-centered mental wellness care and education.
 
This year, on my birthday, SA will be hosting a Free Community Store, where folx can get what they need (from clothes to food) with no concern for cost. It's literally a free store! Removing anxiety that often comes when people have to stress about how they'll get what they need. 
 
It may be my birthday, but this store needs donations much more than I need gifts, so I'm celebrating LD and me this August by donating to the store. Join me? 
  • If you're in Chicago, you can donate items from the list.
  • If you're anywhere else, you can donate directly to the store via Cash App ($SistaAfyaLLC), PayPal (@SistaAfya), or go directly to their site, SistaAfya.com. 
Please note “Free Store donation. In community with Liberated Development.”
 
Thanks for helping me celebrate this August in a meaningful way!
celebrate with me and donate! 
Staying Relevant
 
When data and equity come together, it can be tricky!
 
Data integration commonly drives decision-making. Done well, it can highlight needs, improve services, fuel innovation, and — ultimately — build stronger communities. However, when data infrastructure disregards the larger historical and social contexts within which it sits, it reinforces legacies of racist policies, spurs inequitable resource allocation, and — ultimately — harms communities*.
 
Enter… Data for Black Lives (DBL). 
 
DBL is committed to using data to create concrete and measurable change in the lives of Black people, and will be hosting their third conference in September 23-25 2022, geared toward charting a new future for the role that data can and should play in the lives of Black people. 
 
For more about the conference, DBL's work, or resources that can help you think and rethink the role data plays in your race equity work, click below.
data & race Equity done right!
 
In  Action…
Over the last few weeks, I’ve had countless conversations with partners ("clients") from different organizations who are feeling stuck and trapped because of what’s unspoken or unaddressed in the workplace. While each of these partners is from a different type of organization with varied team sizes and organizational cultures, the “stuckness” of how to say “the thing” has been consistent across all. 
 
In some cases someone on the LD side has coached clients in saying the thing, and in other cases, we’ve joined in on conversations in an effort to support the flow of dialogue once “the thing” is said. In each of these cases, I’ve found three things to be true:
  1. People want to make the convo comfortable. It won’t be.
  2. People want to know what will happen on the other side of the convo. You won’t.
  3. People want to ensure the other person understands them. That’s not guaranteed.
Sorry I don't have better news here🤷🏾‍♀lol! Our goal in supporting folx in saying “the thing” isn’t to get them to a point where it’s easy, but to get them to a point where it’s possible. When we hold on to what we know we need to give voice to, we disconnect ourselves from our truth. Layer on being a leader, and you’re now leading inauthentically. Leading from a place of non-truth. 
 
If you have “a thing” you need to share/say for the betterment of your leadership and/or your organizational culture, here are 7 Tips I often walk through when supporting folks to “say ‘the thing’ .”
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*Source: A Toolkit For Centering Racial Equity Within Data Integration, by Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy, 2020.
 
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